Flapnose sea catfish
Species of fish
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The flapnose sea catfish (Sciades dowii), also known as the brown sea catfish,[3] is a species of catfish in the family Ariidae.[4] It was described by Theodore Gill in 1863, originally under the genus Leptarius.[2] It inhabits rivers and estuaries in Ecuador, Colombia, Guatemala, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Peru. It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 15 m (0 to 50 ft). It reaches a maximum total length of 90 cm (35 in), more commonly reaching a TL of 50 cm (20 in).[4]
| Flapnose sea catfish | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Siluriformes |
| Family: | Ariidae |
| Genus: | Sciades |
| Species: | S. dowii |
| Binomial name | |
| Sciades dowii (Gill, 1863) | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
The diet of the flapnose sea catfish includes small finfish, fish scales, and benthic invertebrates.[5] Due to a lack of known major threats to the species, it is currently ranked as Least Concern by the IUCN redlist. It has been harvested for its meat since Pre-Columbian times, and remains a commercially important foodfish to date.[1] It is marketed both fresh and dried-salted.[4]
Etymology
The fish is named in honor of John Melmoth Dow (1827-1892) a Panama Railroad Company ship captain and an amateur naturalist, who presented the type specimen to the Smithsonian Institution.[6]
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